Burial-casket.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

. Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 9, 1906.

Application filed August 21, 1905. Serial No. 274,999.

'o CLU 'LU/wm, t may concern:

Be it known that I, MONROE S. LEECH, a citizen of the United States, residing 'at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Burial-Gaskets, of which the following is a specificati on.

My invention relates to improvements in burial-caskets, and has among its salient objects to provide a sanitary casket composed principally of glass or other plastic moldable material of impervious quality adapted to be hermetically closed and sealed and susceptible of retaining a partial vacuum to provide reinforcement for a construction such as described whereby it is given great strength; to provide suitably for the attachment of handles or other carrying instrumentalities to the casket, and to provide retaining and reinforcing the casket.

' In the drawings, wherein I have illustrated a suitable embodiment of 'my invention, Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section therethrough on .line 1 1 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the lower portion of the casket, taken on line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar section of a modified form of my invention, and Fig. 4 is aplan view of a casket embodying my invention.

Throughout the drawings like numerals of reference refer always to like parts.

In said drawings, 5 and 6 indicate, respectively, a base portion and a cover portion of the sanitary casket, preferably both composed of bodies of glass suitably shaped, the body 5 being provided with a channel 7 in its upper face suitably shaped to `receive the lower edge of the cover portion 6. Preferably the said lower edge of the part 6 and the interior surfaces of the channel 7 are serrated or otherwise roughened to afford gripping-surfaces to cement or other binding material.

At some suitable point in the cover 6 a valve 8 is preferably provided, said valve extending to the exterior of the casket and beingprovided with a nozzle suitable for the reception of proper means for exhausting air from the interior of the receptacle. Preferably the form of valve is such as to provide at the exterior of the top 6 a portion 8', suitable to serve as an abutment to prevent longitudinal movement of a strap to be described.

The base 5 of the casket is reinforced with means for the removable top ofv metal, the metal reinforcing means extending transversely of and below the base from side to side thereof and overlying the side edges, as shown at 9. Preferably suitable portions of the reinforcement 9 are formed into hinge-sockets 10 for suitable handles 11, and preferably at points in lateral alinement with the valve S projections 10 10 are extended `vertically to afford means for attachment of the cover reinforcing and retaining strap 12. Said strap is at one end preferably hinged, as at 13, to a projection 10 of the base reinforcement and at its other end arranged to be secured as, for example, by a screw 14-to the opposite projection 10. Preferably the reinforcing and retaining strap 12 is cut out, as at 15, to receive the valve 8 and laterally bear against its portion S,.so that the said strap 12 is positively positioned relative to the cover.

It will be apparent that the base-reinforcing member 9 may, as shown in Fig. 2, extend longitudinally of the base from end to end thereof and at its ends be inturned to overlie the end extremities of the base portion 5'; but if it be desired to lighten the structure the reinforcement may be provided by transverse bands 9a, molded into the base 5 and projecting below the same, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

In the use of a casket such as that herein described the body is placed in position, the cover applied, and a cement body, as shown at 15', run into the channel 7 to effect a tight joint between the cover and the base, and the air may then be exhausted through the valve 8, after which the valve is closed. N ow the retaining andA reinforcing strap 12 is swung to closed position and secured by the screw 14 or other suitable fastening means. y

In its closed position the aperture 15 of the strap coacts with the valve 8 to prevent the strap from moving and to retain the cover securely in place even should the cement 16 be omitted or fail to set. Furthermore, it is obvious that the arrangement of the handles in conjunction with the reinforcing strap or plate provides ready means for transporting the-casket by hand without danger of breakage of the base-plate and protects the baseplate when the casket is set down or moved about. l

I-Iaving thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is*

1. In a casket, a fiat glass base thicker near IOO IIO

its outer edge, a glass cover intertting With said. base, and a metallic reinforcing means underlying said base and inturned over the edges thereof to protect the same.

2. In a casket, a flat glass base thicker near its outer edges provided With a channel in its thickest portion, a glass cover interlitting in said channel, a metallic reinforcing means eX- tending under the base, and inturned over 1o the edge thereof.

3. In a casket, a flat glass base thicker near its outer edges, a glass cover7 metallic reinforcing means extending under the base and lnturned over the edges thereof, and handles secured'to the inturned portion of said metal- 15 lic reinforcing means. l In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand in the presence of tWo Witnesses.

MONROE S. LEECH. In presence of FORE BAIN, GEORGE L. CHINDAHL. 

